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Post by Von K on Jun 20, 2021 20:09:49 GMT -5
How do you guys feel about intensive research for historical or quasi historical s&s? I find that out of hours of looking up timelines and whatnot,very little makes it on the page. I suppose I mainly do it to avoid making some wildly inaccurate anachronism. It's kind of like an iceberg - only the selected essence like the tip of the iceberg needs to be visible to the reader, but the writer still has to know the unseen depths in order to extract that essence. Similar to the world building details for a Fantasy or Sci Fi yarn.
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Post by almuric on Jun 21, 2021 8:21:47 GMT -5
How do you guys feel about intensive research for historical or quasi historical s&s? I find that out of hours of looking up timelines and whatnot,very little makes it on the page. I suppose I mainly do it to avoid making some wildly inaccurate anachronism. Research is good not only to avoid blatant historical errors, but also to find useful information that could be used to help with the plot and characters.
And it also makes you more knowledgeable. Which is never bad.
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Owen
Wanderer
Posts: 24
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Post by Owen on Jun 21, 2021 20:49:23 GMT -5
How do you guys feel about intensive research for historical or quasi historical s&s? I find that out of hours of looking up timelines and whatnot,very little makes it on the page. I suppose I mainly do it to avoid making some wildly inaccurate anachronism. I personally find there's a big difference between the historical and quasi-historical kinds of sword and sorcery. In a historical setting, inaccuracies are really going to take me out of it. But in a quasi-historical fantasy setting, I think the key is internal consistency rather than accuracy, since there reason is no actual history that demands fidelity. Take God in the Bowl, for example, where you have these pseudo-Roman policemen armed with crossbows, which would have been pretty disconcertingly inaccurate if they were really supposed to be Romans in an ancient setting. But since they were in a lost age of magic and forgotten technological holdovers from Atlantis, it certainly doesn't present a problem for internal consistency.
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Post by almuric on Jun 23, 2021 19:48:12 GMT -5
Recently read Gun Runner, by Larry Correia and John D. Brown. At the end, Correia is talking about the process he and his collaborator used for creating the story:
"Later, when we decided to write the book, 'What's cool?' was a question we kept asking all the way to the end."
Sounds like good advice, no matter what it is you're writing.
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Post by themirrorthief on Jun 23, 2021 21:33:50 GMT -5
there are great research cheats that work and save time so you can focus on the story
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Post by Von K on Jun 23, 2021 21:52:04 GMT -5
Recently read Gun Runner, by Larry Correia and John D. Brown. At the end, Correia is talking about the process he and his collaborator used for creating the story:
"Later, when we decided to write the book, 'What's cool?' was a question we kept asking all the way to the end."
Sounds like good advice, no matter what it is you're writing.
Thanks Almuric. I saw Larry Correia and John D Brown on youtube awhile back, from a tour at the start of their careers: How to Get and Develop Killer Story IdeasAnother here: Larry's Ask Correia blog series of 18 articles is cool too: Ask Correia (from best of MHN)
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Post by Char-Vell on Jul 6, 2021 12:13:50 GMT -5
here's a few videos I've found instructive.
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Post by Von K on Jul 6, 2021 17:42:51 GMT -5
Great stuff Char-vell, thanks.
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Post by Von K on Jul 17, 2021 17:48:53 GMT -5
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Post by karasuthecrow on Jul 29, 2021 19:24:21 GMT -5
I found this video on Youtube and personaly speaking, found ti pretty usefull regarding how to writte "Sword and Sorcery".
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Post by Von K on Aug 1, 2021 10:20:07 GMT -5
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Post by karasuthecrow on Aug 1, 2021 15:02:14 GMT -5
Youtube channel "Dungeon Dive" has also created a Sword and Sorcery themed playlist talking about different characters, artist and authors.
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Post by thedarkman on Aug 1, 2021 15:19:40 GMT -5
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Post by thedarkman on Aug 1, 2021 15:20:37 GMT -5
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Owen
Wanderer
Posts: 24
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Post by Owen on Aug 1, 2021 18:07:28 GMT -5
Thanks! Great insights as per usual from Mr. Oden. I particularly like the point from the first article about the connection between S&S and historical fiction. I had heard about Howard rewriting Conan stories from other characters, of course, but that straight line from historical adventures to sword and sorcery really makes perfect sense to me. And the second one is a very good stab at defining a genre that tends to defy definition. This observation is very astute: Very cool to read some thoroughgoing analysis of the genre. Hope there are more in this series.
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